Hiya All......Played this way back when it 1st came out as a sword & board character......I did arena, warriors guild & mages guild...but that was about it...

I am wanting to start from the beginning with a new character that is capable of doing the thieves guild & dark brotherhood missions as a priority plus i want to ty and do everything I can including all official DLC.....

I am unsure of what race and skills to pick to maximise my chances of doing everything with a priority in completing thieves guild and dark brotherhood...


Any hints and tips would also be appreciate due to optimising levelling.....Its been quite awhile since I last played.

Any guidance in this would be greatly appreciated.


John

http://images.uesp.net//c/c4/Fishystick.jpg

back to the OP: I used a mage character when I decided to do everything. use all schools of magic but maybe trade alchemy for sneak. That way you can kill stuff, heal yourself, turn invisible e.t.c so it fits into any role.

A Wood Elf would make a good thief type character. So would a Khajiit.

you can pick any race and be just fine. for a non magicka boosted race i would just pick Mage as a sign, for Breton or Altmer doesn't matter much what sign, Thief is good for what you are planning for them.

Spec - Combat or Magic

Skills

Acrobatics - don't use it much at all just a filler to help slow your leveling
Blade
Destruction
Illusion- only pick this skill if you know how to use it.
Marksman
Restoration
Sneak or for more precise level control Speechraft

train Armorer every level
get spell making pretty quick. oh and a tip for spell making command 4 sec ftw.

Thanks All for the responses.....Couple of questions please


I was thinking along the lines of dual wielder(Not sure if its possible) with some bow attacks while at range......

There has been some mentions re slowing levelling by taking speechcraft....Can someone explain a little more on why I would want to slow levelling?

The non-magic listings seem to fit well, not sure if i could replace the non magic skills with magic to do the thieves guild? or whether I should stick to the non-magic ones


Cheers

John

You mentioned optimizing leveling so that is why i put that in about the slow leveling, which allows you to stay equally paced with enemies and get a little better attribute bonuses. if you are on pc there are ways around all that with mods, which is also the only way to dual wield.

you don't need any particular to skill to do any guild, just have to finish the quests somehow.

No dual wielding in Vanilla, sorry. A few modders have tried to introduce it but not very successfully.

There's not a lot of advantage to levelling in Oblivion. Combat gets harder unless you build your character very carefully: building minor skills to get good attribute raises, qualifying for the Arcane U, using enchanted weapons and armor and poisons. Levelling does open up the daedric quests and some of the artifacts are nice. Many quest rewards are also levelled.

Wood elves have the best starting stats for stealth types, but any race can make a successful thief/marksman. Dunmer have good starting stats for blade/bow combo.

Try: Acrobatics, Blade, Illusion, Marksman, Restoration, Sneak and one more but NOT Security, which is useless as a major but will help you get good AGI raises as a minor.

"Idle" major skills don't so much slow levelling as let you develop your all-important major combat skills without relatively useless skills forcing you up in level. Many useful skills, like Alchemy, Conjuration and Alteration level so quickly that there's no need to take them as majors. Armor skills also level quickly, especially light armor for a stealth type.

Mara

If you go with a stealth character, you might want to use a dagger rather than a sword, axe or mace, due to its faster attack speed. I'm not familiar with the benefits of daggers though, so someone else will have to explain their use for a thief/assassin type of character. IIRC it mainly has to do with applying poisons with the dagger...and it's possible you might want to avoid daggers, because they apply poisons too fast. Can't remember for certain.

Magic use is totally up to you, and stealthy characters can make good use of Illusion and Restoration. Doesn't matter much if the skill is part of your build, just use spells you find useful -- for example, you don't have to have Mysticism as a major in order to use Detect Life. If it's a Major skill, it'll increase faster (especially good if you plan to use Restoration, which increases very slowly), and you'll get a couple free spells at the beginning. One trick is to use Alchemy, but don't make it a major skill; you can then make all the poisons and potions you want without leveling up your character too quickly, and still get plenty of magicka to cast the stronger spells.

Your plan to use bows is good, then a melee weapon up close. You can also do all the Mages Guild recommendations early just so you'll have access to the spellmaking and enchanting altars in the Arcane Uni, so you can make your own spells and enchantments and not have to worry about buying or finding them all the time (and no need to do the Mages Guild quests after that until you're ready to). When using a bow, use Alchemy to make poisons, poison your bow, then sneak when taking the first shot. You can also use various Illusion spells to prevent and control combat.

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Races shows the stat differences between the races. If your main goal is the Thieves Guild and DB, you'll definitely want to focus on stealth, even if you play something like a warrior or mage -- being sneaky will be the most important trait :ph34r:

http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1106974-zakarius-svedlins-character-creation-guide/page__p__16209769__hl__Character%20Creation__fromsearch__1&#entry16209769

I wrote that. Its my default post to any character creations help topics. Check it out and I hope it helps.

I personally would recommend this build:

Wood Elf

Mage Sign

Stealth Spec.

endurance
Willpower

Marksman
Sneak
Light Armor
Restoration
Illusion

And the last 2 you would have to figure out for yourself
You could use Acrobatics, Armorer, Conjuration, Mysticism, or Destruction in my opinion.

Acrobatics IMO isn't all that useful and can surprise you with a level up. And the dodge move at level 50 doesn't work very well.

Conjuration is good if you plan to use it sparingly. I use it mainly to slow leveling like previously mentioned, and a summon can make a good distraction in a pinch.

Mysticism is good for detect life to see enemies better when sneaking, although it levels fast and could be a minor easily

Destruction is good because this build doesn't use melee weapons and instead blocks with a bow and uses touch magic at melee range. When you block and cast you cast 2 times faster than normal, and your bow stays at the ready to sneak in a shot when possible. Restoration with Absorb health also does a good job of this. This could also go as a minor as well

Armorer is good to pick as a major for this as unlike most character which it makes a good minor for, you shouldn't be ending up getting hit much so you don't get to repair as often so the major skill boost helps as you want to reach 50 armorer asap so you can repair enchanted items.

I personally go with Armorer and Conjuration, and destruction would be the next best.

With this build you make poisons with alchemy and sneak attack all your enemies. You can use frenzy to turn groups of enemies on each other to thin the bunch down to 1 guy. Command works good for that too. At higher illusion levels you can turn invisible to make an escape, or use chameleon to supplement your sneak skill. Use restoration to heal of course, and use absorb health or destruction touch spells to fight at close range.